No Discovery of Attorney Work Product

A statute provides that medical records are discoverable by the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts in litigation before the Administrative Hearing Commission without regard to any privilege. That statute is within HIPAA, prevails over the physician’s duty of confidentiality, and constitutes a specific exception to the statute generally requiring the Board to have patient consent or a subpoena. Interrogatories may discover the identities of persons with knowledge of the facts, and even a witness list eventually, but the “subject and substance of [such person’s] knowledge” is attorney work product. On a writ of prohibition, when circuit court granted a preliminary writ but denied a permanent writ, the circuit court’s judgment is subject to appeal.
State of Missouri ex rel. John L. Putnam, M.D. vs. State Board of Registration for The Healing Arts and The Administrative Hearing Commission
(Overview Summary)
Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District – WD84394